Shrimp

I successfully switched host families!

And so far I like it.
The house is smaller and doesn't have air conditioning but the living room is full of antiques and I have two big windows in my room. I now have five ginormous pet goldfish and A DOG! The dog is named Look Joop, it's the name of a Thai desert. I have a host mom, Mae Gai and a host aunt (she's a relative but I don't know how my host mom is related to her), Pee Ju, and a host sister who is already out of college and working, so she doesn't live in the house anymore. They are all so nice and they speak Thai to me! But probably the best part about living here so far is that there is a....
a.....
A WASHING MACHINE!

Those seven months of washing my own clothes has finally paid off! I can now just throw in all my clothes into the giant glorious metal machine, and stand by while it brightens my whites and removes stains. No more scrubbing or stretching, pulling or rinsing! Ah, how I love washing machines.

Another nice thing about my new family here is that Pee Ju can cook! So I get to eat home cooked meals again!
They told me that breakfast is around 8:30 to 9ish but if I oversleep they will put some aside for me so I can eat it when I wake up. How nice, right?
So I set my alarm for eight o'clock, determined not to miss my home cooked breakfast with my new family.

I woke up at 9:30.
Humbug.

So I slumped down the stairs and slid into the kitchen and long behold breakfast was not served yet! I made it in time! Because this is Thailand, 8 actually means 9:30, no matter what family you live with.

But this was no ordinary Thai breakfast. I see the usually things on the table: rice, vegetables fried in oil so that they are limp and no longer green, pork- always pork and wait a second....
I see a full sized, bright orange, face and all- SHRIMP.
My host mom comes into the kitchen already dressed for work and looking professional, a juxtaposition of what I looked like this morning. I was fashioning a bed head, a fabulously frumpy bright orange t-shirt from a much needed English camp I went to, black floral boxer shorts and thanks to Thai weather- I was sweaty all over.
"You can eat," she said, as she motions to all the food on the table.
So I start scooping some rice on my plate and some limp veggies when she takes THE SHRIMP and places it in front of my face. She sets it down on the table, scooting my plate over so THE SHRIMP is front and center.
"You can eat," she said, as I sat there gawking at the orange beast.

I manage to mutter "How?".

I have seen plenty of people rip open shrimps in my life, but I still don't really know how to go about ripping a head off of a crustacean.
She starts laughing at me, and takes THE SHRIMP and calmly breaks it open for me and sets it on my plate. Luckily I got the tail and she took the top half.

Next thing I knew, she was asking if I wanted to go to work with her today.
YES YES YES!
It's been so long since anyone has offered to take me anywhere that I was so excited!
I had thirty minutes to get ready and then we were out the door.
We dropped Pee Ju off at her office and then Mae Gai and I went to a hair dresser where she got her hair curled for work. I asked her if she went there a lot and non nonchalantly responded with "about twice a week."

While in the car, sitting in traffic, she turned on the radio to 105.5. Which happened to be the international hits station so we tapped our toes to the beat and bobbed our heads along. Then my host mom asked if I liked Japanese food and I of course said yes.
We then picked up her friend and drove to this fancy hotel right across from Lumphini park. I pass this hotel every time I go to the park and think "That is one fancy place."
So here's the thing about hotels in big cities, it's super easy to sneak into them. Just walk right in, go to the elevators and pick your floor and you're golden. Now I don't sneak into hotels to do anything bad, I just try to get to the top floor so I can see the view of the city or figure out if they have a nice pool. But this hotel is different, you walk in and they ask if you need anything and where you are going. So I don't recommend sneaking into this hotel, but I do recommend staying there if you ever do come to the city.
Anyway, so I figure that we are just parking at this hotel and then walking to a restaurant to market.
Nope.
We are eating at the hotel restaurant.
My host mom leads us through the huge luxurious lobby and to a fancy Japanese restaurant where met another man for lunch. It turns out he was a Rotarian, who was Japanese and I assume he is living in Thailand because he can speak Thai.
All the waitresses were wearing Kimonos with white socks and wooden flip flops. I checked if any of them are dead.
Thanks to my lovely Japanese friend, I found out this funny fact: When wearing a Kimono or any other traditional Japanese robe thingy, cross the left side over the right side panel. If you cross the right over then you're dead. Whenever Japanese people bury their dead in the traditional robes, they place the right side of the robe over the left to signify that they're dead.
None of the waitresses were dead.
So I'm skimming the menu, looking at all the funny words that I can't pronounce when I come across what I wanted- raw tuna on rice. Yum. But then I see something I didn't think I would ever see in Thailand.
UNI
Uni are sea urchins.
Uni is also a name that my mother wanted to name either my sister or me.
My father saved us from that tragedy.
I asked me host mom if i could have either the tuna or the uni, she ordered the tuna for me, unfortunately. Although she was concerned about me eating raw fish. Which I kind of understand but you should see some of the things Thai people eat.
After this she actually went to work on the 21st floor of one of the skyscrapers in the city. I waited by the front desk. Then we went to a mall where Pee Ju, Mae Gai and I got facials- which was really REALLY nice. And went to a market where we ate Pad Thai for dinner.
The next morning I woke up and alas, no shrimp.

Book: Page 196 of Where The Red Fern Grows, Lydia lent it to me and so far it's a very sweet book.
Thai: shrimp..........................................goon